Apparatus for treating hydrocarbon oils.



D. T. DAY. APPARATUS FOR TREATING HYDBOOABBON OILS.

- uruou'mn rILnn no. '1, mo.

1,004,632. Patented 0013,1911.

and improvin DAVID *r. DAY, or WASHINGTON, ms'rmc'r or COLUMBIA.

APPARATUS FOR TREATING HYDROCARBON OILS.

Application filed December 7,1910. Serial No.

To all whom it may. concern:

Be it known that I, DAVID T. DAY, a citi- Zen of the United States,residing at Washington, in the District of Columbia, have inventedcertain new and useful Improvements in Apparatus for TreatingHydrocarbon Oils, of which the following is a specification. Thisinventionre'lates to apparatus for treating ,crude petroleum or itsdistillate products which are bad in odor and defi cient in hydrogen,for increasing the yield the quality of light hydrocarbon oils, luricatin oils and other products of distillation; a so for improving thequality of the resultingresiduum; and is an improvement on the inventionsecured to me by Letters Patent No. 826,089, dated July 1 ,1905. c

It has heretofore been found that the contact or catalytic action ofporous bodies, such as spongy metals or porous clays, enable petroleumvapors or liquids, under appropriate tem erature and ressure, to combinewith hy rpgen with t e production of superior products, d gen. Thus itwas ascertained that when .gases or vapors carrying hydrogen, such aswater gas, or ethylene andits homologues' were brought inintimatecontact with petroleum vapors or liquids in the presence of ratedhydrocarbons,

- more hy rogen than a porous medium capable of exerting the actionusually described as contact actionlor catalytic action, the 'h orcombined with,.t e previously unsatuwith' the desirable effect ofroducing h drocarbons containing V fore, in pi'riportion to the amountof carbon. As a resu t, the dist'illates and residuum are lighter incolor find sweeter in odor, the kerosenebeing -more suitable for burningin lam s;.the

gasolene better for illuminating an power pu oses and'the heavy'oilsmuch improved or -ubricatin been 'found t a ensuch. crude petroleumsor'residues ale-subjected totheycra'ckin process to increase. the yieldof light .oi s suitable for 'buriiing'in lamps and of through.

solene the addition of hydrogen, lib medium of a contact agent, isrendered especially ea and eflicient, and the: .eld and quality 0 thevaluableprqducts ist 'ere by greatly increased. r The principal objectof gniy invention therefore, is to provide an apparatus adapt-Speeiflcation of Letters Patent.

ue to the added h dro-'- drogen was added to,

p oses.-- lt'ha'slespecially, H3

' Patented Oct. 3, 1911.

rocarbon oils and increasing the yield of light oil, by mingling orcombining with the oils under treatment a sufficient percentage ofhydrogen to convert them into a mixture of the marsh-gas series ofhydrocarbons and other series richer in hydrogen than the crackedroducts.

A s ecial ob'ect of my invention is to provide or effectively andeconomically superheating cominingled streams of oil vapor and hydrogencarrying gas in a -hydrogenator, by passage through the porous absorptive contact material 1n tubes immersed in the liquid which is beindistilled, thereby aiding and expediting t e process of combimnghydrogen with the 011 vapor for the purpose of saturatin the oil andimprovmg its quality. In t 's superheating oper ation I also provide forregulating and controllin which is most efi'ective for carrying out thecontact process, by controlling the pressure and consequently thetemperature of distillation, directly in the still.

Another 0b]ect is to provide an improved construction of apparatus bymeans of which the process can be more economically and efiectivelycarried out. By my improved. construction the first structing theapparatus. is reduced, and the subsequent expense of operating it tocarry out the process is much reduced.

I will now more particularly describe my invention by reference to theaccompanying drawings in which-- V Figure 1 represents a verticallongitudinal sect-ion of an oil still with parts in elevation, embodyingmy improvements and adapted cost of con-' the temperature. to thatdegree, I

for carrymg out my process, Fig. 2 represents avertical transversesection line 2-2,

my apparatus the hydro nator is constructedflin, and as a part 0 the oilstill, the construction bein as follows: An oil still A is set in asuitable furnace audits opposite ends are provided respectively withmanholes and covers a, a. to give access for cleaning and repairing;Near the opposite.

ends of the sti'll'are securedtransverse partition plates B, B formingva r s aces b and'b and a space betweent em or the body of 'oil to bedistilled. The filate B does not extend to' the topof the sti or is profvidcd with a topropening c for the passage of oil vapor and hydrogeninto thefvaipor space 7); it is also provided near the bottom with amanhole and cover I)". B, B may be termed tube-sheets and are connectedby tubes 01 cl for containing the porous absorptive material 6. Thesetubes connecting with the plates B, B, constitute the hydrogenator -:D,the tubes being immersedin the body of oil which usually rises to thelevel indicated by dotted lines as. perforated ,pipe F, havingia valvef, extends longitudinally near the bottom of the still for admitting oiland hydrogen or either one alone, as required. With the outer end ofpipe F connects an oil supply pipe F having a valve f; also ahydrogensupply pipe G having a valve g. I preferably construct a hydrogengenerator H near the still, soas to be able to supply hot hydrogenthrough pipes G and F. This generator may consist of retorts in whichoil is decomposed for liberating hydro en," or may be any other desiredform of iyd'rogengenerator. The goose neck or vapor escape pipe J,having a controlling valve j,'connects with the vapor 'chamberb and withany well known form of condenser K. A pressure gage m is connected withchamber bfor indicating the pressurein the still, as a guide forproperly adjusting the valve 7'. The contact material, in the nature ofa porous absorptive substance e, such as a finely divided metal orfinely divided clay, is placed in 'the tubes. 01 to nearly fill thesame.

The o ration may be conducted as foll-ows: il is supplied to the.fsftill, filling the same to thedotted line w andwhen suitably heatedfor the purpose; of distillation,

. hydrogen. or a hydrogen carrying as or. vapor is forced 'in throughthe per pi e F and passed up through the'body of The commingled,hydrogen and oil ."vapors, rising into the vapor space at the top of thestill, pass therefrom through openin 0 into the chamber 1) and thencethroug tubes d in contact with the porous absorptive material e.therein, where the catalyticaction takes place, resultin in the hydrogenbeing combined with t e previously unsaturated hydrocarbons and-producmghydro-carbons containing more byamount of carbon. The hydrogenatingtubes being immersed in the body of oil wh ch is being distilled areheated by the oil to a temperature as high as the distillationtemperature of the oil, and for practical purposes they will be heatedto a higher degree than the vapor, inasmuch as liquid from which oilsare being distilled is always hotter than the distillate vapors from it.By this means the commmgl'ed hydrogen and oil vapor are superheated,thereby causing the-h drogen to combine with the oil vapor in t epresence of the contact material and produce saturated oil contain- Theplates.

effecting saturation of oil with orated in proportion to the' passed oifing an increased percentage of hydrogen. I thus utilize the heat of thecomparatively highly heated body of oil for superheatin the commingledhydrogen and oil vapor a d hydrogen. The saturated vapor now passes ofiinto the outlet chamber 7) an .dthence through the goose neck J to thecondenser K.

In order to regulatethe temperature and maintain it at that degree mostsuitable to the contact process involved, the valve y will be adjustedand may be so set as to increase the pressure, and, consequently, thetemperature of the body of oil in the still. The temperature ofdistillation can thus be controlled. Ifthe temperature of the body ofoil is raised the hydrogen and oil vapors will more highly superheatedduring passage through the tubes (1. This is quite important inpractice, in order to control the operation of combining hydrogen withoil vapor for saturating the same. An attendant, by observing thepressure indicated in the gage m will understand how to adjust the valve9' for-producing the desired pressure and temperature in the still. Hothydrogen is preferably passed from the generator 'H directly through theperforated pipe F, thereby materially aiding the heating of the oil. Astream of oil and heated hydrogen may be admitted simultaneously throughpipes F and G- into pipe-F and discharged therefrom into the still.Should it be desired to increase the pressure and temperature of thecommingled hydrogen and oil vapor in contact with the rocess'material ein the tubes d for expe iting or increasing the catalytic action orhydrogenating operation, the valve j may be partially closed and soadjusted as to secure the desired effect.

As contact agents for causing hydrogen to combine with petroleum oils,-Imay use finely divided metals, or metals in the porous condition,

such as iron by hydrogen, zinc no dust, reduced nickel orcobalt, dryporous clays, spongy platinum, or palladium, coat ing clays, or quartz,in fact any agent capa'ble of bringing hydrogen into intimate contactwith the petroleum compound. Whether the contact agent in some cases, aspalladiumQfirSt forms a compound or-alloy with the hydrogen, isimmaterial .to the final effect, which is. hat of yielding oil of betterquality as the result of the contact action.

As an illustration of the practical'operation 'of this process thetubes-pl of a still of 160 barrels capacity are first charged withbriquets of copper or iron oxid mixed with metallic dust, the choice ofthe contact agent" depending upon he market price of an availablesupply, The still is charged with Mexican crude oi l of 16 B. gravity;the still is then heated untilthefirst condensed H vapor from the minuteamount of gasolene 130 present in the crudeoil, appears from thecondenser, at the ordinary pressure of the atmosphere. Then hydrogen,preferably as hot as possible, from the generator is passed in throughpipe F at a rate that may well be averaged at 6 cubic feet per second.Inasmuch as this hydrogen is little purer than producer-gas and. not ofmuch value an-excessis provided. The excess issuing with the vaporswhich at once begin to appear from the condenser, is usually fed to thefire under the still. In the case of oils of as high boiling points, asthat of 16 B. gravity 'no extra pressure is used, unless the use ofexcessive hydrogen is undesirable. In that case the hydrogen will yieldlighter prodvucts if the extra pressure goes to 50 pounds per squareinch. In the ease of lighter oils I from California, Texas or otherlocalities,

extra pressure is employed to retard boiling of the oil until a suitablecracking temperature is reached, say' 250 C. to 350 C. VVit-h theprogress of the distillation crude oil is introduced in the manner abovedescribed in order to maintain the level of the oil as nearly as may beuntil impurities collect and require interruption of the process forcleaning out the still.

Having described my invention, what I claim, anddesire to secure byLetters Patent, is-

1. The combination with an oil still, of a hydrogenator therein,comprising two vapor chambers, an intermediate oil chamber, tubesconnecting the vapor chambers, the partition between the-oil chamber andone vapor chamber having an opening for-the passage of vapors to thetubes, and a goose neck or vapor escape pipe connecting with the othervapor chamber, substantially as described.

2. The combination with an oil still, of a hydrogenator therein,comprising two vapor chambers, an intermediate oil chamber, tubesconnecting the vapor chambers, the partition between the oil chamberandone vapor chamber having an opening for the passage of vapors to thetubes, a vapor escape pipe connecting with the othervapor chamber, and apipe leading from a scouree of supply of hydrogen-carrying gas or vaporand connecting with said oil chamber, substantially as described.

. 3. The combination with an oil still, of a hydrogenator therein,comprising two vapor chambers, an intermediate oil chamber, tubescontaining porous absorptive contact material connecting the vaporchambers, one of thedividing partition plates having an opening for thepassage of vapors from the oil chamber into the first vapor chamber, ahydrogen supply pipe connecting with the oil chamber and a va )or escapepipe connecting with the secon vapor chamber, substantially asdescribed.

4. The combination with an oil still having the vapor chambers, anintermediate oil chamber connecting directly with one of the vaporchambers, and tubes connecting the chambers, an intermediate oil chamberconnecting directly with one of the vapor chambers, tubes connecting thevapor chambers, and containing porous contact material, a hydrogensupply pipe connecting with the oil chamber, and a vapor escape pipe,connecting with the second vapor chamber and having a valve forcontrolling the pressure and temperature of hydrogen and distilled oilvapor in contact with said contact material, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

DAVID T. DAY. Witnesses:

EDWIN S. CLARKSON, BESSIE H. DAVIS.

